SA Premier suggests General Motors could sell Holden if right buyer found

Updated
Thu 9 Jan 2014, 8:04 AM AEDT

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Holden brand not for sale

7pm TV News SA

Holden says its brand and local manufacturing operations are not for sale after South Australia's Premier Jay Weatherill said it was an option worth considering to save jobs.

Mr Weatherill made the suggestion after meeting with welfare groups today to discuss the social impact of the carmaker's decision to cease production in Australia by 2018.

The strongest effects will be felt in Adelaide's embattled northern suburbs around the company's Elizabeth plant.

Mr Weatherill said finding a buyer for Holden was a realistic possibility but one he had not discussed with parent company General Motors.

He said another company could become interested in buying the brand if General Motors was prepared to sell it.

"It may be that a particular car manufacturer might want to set up here but use the equity that's in the Holden brand to continue making cars," he said.

"That's obviously something that's the property of General Motors at the moment and presumably they have an interest in keeping it because it has value for them but that is something that we would want to advance in any discussions with Holden.

"Before we start saying 'well, car manufacturing's over' we want to completely exhaust all of the possibilities.

"These are not fanciful propositions. These are propositions that have already had preliminary discussions."

Holden says hands off brand

Opposition Industry spokesman Martin Hamilton-Smith described the suggestion as "ludicrous".

"Some of the comments coming from Premier Jay Weatherill about Holden now are quite strange," he said.

"As if Holden, who have spent 60 to 70 years building a brand, will just let it go to some foreign motor car company that he thinks might move to Adelaide is just a crazy idea."

Holden has since told the ABC its brand is not for sale.

The meeting between the Premier and welfare agencies also discussed job opportunities in the health and community service sectors as possible options for Holden workers.